CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Video clips of North Carolina freshman guard Caleb Love alone on the Dean E. Smith Center court after midnight shooting by himself spread through social media following a 2-for-10 shooting performance against Syracuse last week.
Along with comments that praised his dedication, came the sarcastic ones too. Remarks that “he needed to” be practicing acknowledged the obvious shooting struggles that marred Love’s start this season. Love had not shot 45 percent or better from the field through any of the Tar Heels’ games.
Until Wake Forest.
Love scored a season-high 20 points on an efficient 7-for-12 shooting from the field in leading Carolina’s 80-73 win over the Demon Deacons Wednesday. It may have marked the breakthrough he -- and the Tar Heels -- have been waiting to happen for a player who entered the season projected by many to be a potential first-round pick in this year’s NBA draft.
“It was just more mental with me, more than just ability,” Love said. “Because in my head, I know I can shoot, my teammates know I can shoot, my coaches know I can shoot. It was just all about the mental and getting out of that slump.”
UNC coach Roy Williams said, like most freshmen, Love has at times this season allowed the fact that he wasn’t scoring adversely affect other parts of his game. His teammates could see that too. That’s why collectively the team rallied around Love individually giving words of encouragement while they saw him struggling.
Junior Leaky Black said he tries to be in Love’s ear after every play, good or bad, to tell him to focus on the next play. Sophomore Armando Bacot said he could relate given a scoring slump he endured last season and emphasized that he’d work his way out of it.
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LOVE TURNS TO MEDITATION
But it was the advice from his mother that helped most. Love said his slump built a lot of stress until, at her suggestion, he began meditating using the Calm app morning and night. Love visualizes during those sessions how he will perform in the next game.
“Just because of my shot not falling, doesn’t mean I stopped working, I’m gonna keep working,” Love said. “And then I started meditating like a few weeks ago. That’s helping me. ... I had a lot of people just staying in my head, just telling me to keep going, so that’s what I’m doing.”
Williams called Love’s performance against the Deacons, “by far the best game he’s had from the floor.” Williams had just told Love in a meeting that he was getting better each day.
“When we do the shooting drills, Kerwin (Walton) usually beats him and the second guy on our team is either Andrew (Platek) or Caleb,” Williams. “He’s been shooting well in practice and he’s been really working at it. I mean, you saw after one of our games, he was still here at midnight working on a shot.”
Love said throughout his struggles he’s tried to stay “true to his work.” His teammates have witnessed it and respect it, which is why they have stayed confident in him.
In the Heels’ win against Miami, Love missed his first eight shots. But still had the gall to take a 3-pointer with 2:52 left and UNC trailing by four. It was his only made shot of the game and was part of an 8-0 run that positioned the Heels to win.
“I see the repetition he gets in practice it’s like, he’s a hell of a player man,” Black said. “He really can play and it’s just trying to get him to translate into the game. That’s just the main thing, once he starts doing that on a consistent basis, man, he’s really gonna surprise some people.”
The turnaround has been a work in progress. Love shot 11.7 percent from 3-point range -- just 4-for-34 -- through the Heels’ first eight games. In their last six games, he’s 10-for-25 behind the arc.
Bacot said if Love plays as he did against Wake, it changes everything for the Heels going forward.
“He’s a special player and I really do believe he’ll be one of the best guards in the country if he plays like this all the time,” Bacot said.
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SHOOTING HIS SHOT WITH CONFIDENCE
There’s more to Love’s potential than just a scoring guard. He gave the snapshots against Wake of just how good a defender he can be with two steals and two blocks thanks in part to his 6-foot-4 frame.
One of his blocked shots he recovered from around the free-throw line to close out on Wake sophomore guard Jahcobi Neath shooting a 3-pointer from the left wing to get a piece of his shot. Late in the game, he also stole an entry pass to sophomore forward Ismael Massoud which led to a 2-on-1 fast break with Black and ended with Love’s dunk.
“He could be one of the best defensive guards I’ve ever coached playing his position,” Williams said. “He has strength; he has speed; he has jumping ability; he has great feet. Most of the time when you get a freshman, it (playing defense) doesn’t mean that much to him. But it’s meaning and more and more to Caleb all the time.”
Becoming the player he envisions means a lot to Love too, which is why after beating the Deacons on Wednesday, he was back out on the Smith Center court. Shooting his shot with confidence.
Meditate on that.
